Sunday, December 27, 2015

YALSA Morris Challenge Update

I'm finally home after spending a week visiting relatives in the Northeast. I brought two of the books for the Morris Challenge, Because You'll Never Meet Me and The Weight of Feathers, with me on my trip. These books will not be discussed in detail here because I'm still trying to catch up at home and work after being away for a week but I wanted to at least post the publishers' descriptions.

Because You'll Never Meet Me

written by Leah Thomas

Ollie, who has seizures when near electricity, lives in a backwoods cabin with his mother and rarely sees other people, and Moritz, born with no eyes and a heart defect that requires a pacemaker, is bullied at his high school, but when a physician who knows both suggests they begin corresponding, they form a strong bond that may get them through dark times. Description provided by the publisher

The Weight Of Featherswritten by Anna-Marie McLemoreFor twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows-the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find. Lace Palpma may be new to her family's show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean eath, and she's been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it's a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace's life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees. Description provided by the publisher

Both stories involve secrets from the past that now affect the lives of the main characters. While they are very different books- Because You'll Never Meet Me is an epistolary novel that is sometimes borders on science fiction and The Weight of Feathers is a novel steeped in magical realism, I thought they paired well together.